MUNCIE, Ind. -- Kids everywhere dream of playing for their home team. Playing the game they love in front of their friends and family. Being a hometown hero.

When Ball State women's basketball senior guard Ty'ronda Benning steps onto the court at Worthen Arena for the final time tonight, in many ways, those dreams have come true.

"There were a few things calling me back home," said Benning, a Muncie native and Southside graduate. "Ball State is good. They have a good program. I wanted to make an impression."

Benning, who started her collegiate basketball career at Lincoln Trail Community College in Illinois, transferred to Ball State in 2009. She started 27 games and ranked third on the team in scoring a year ago.

This season, Benning has become one of the top scoring guards in the Mid-American Conference and BSU's emotional leader. Those statistics and emotions have only strengthened as Benning's college career comes to end this March.

"She leads this team with her own emotional intensity," head coach Kelly Packard said. "Ty'ronda is a scorer. You talk about players who are shooters, talk about players who are defenders. Ty'ronda Benning is a scorer."

From playing on the blacktops around Muncie as a kid to starring for Ball State, Benning is playing the game she loves back in the city where it all began.

About Ball State Sports Link:

During the semester, students will produce a broad range of media from live remote productions, live-to-tape events, television programs (WIPB-TV , Comcast Indiana, ESPN Networks, Fox Sports Net, Cardinal Vision 57), student-athlete features and webcasts. Other facets of the immersion program include radio, newspapers, podcasts and the use of mobile technology and interactivity via the web.

To maintain a focus on cross-platform promotion, students repackage the feature stories they create for local use at Ball State and send them to local news stations and outlets in the hometown of the featured player-on any platform the station may require.